A Column Inch of Silence
Disgraced journalist Kenny used to chase headlines in war zones; now he writes obituaries. But when he uncovers a pattern in the deaths of the city's forgotten, a cryptic tip from an old source puts him on a collision course with a powerful CEO and a story that could be his last.
# A Column Inch of Silence
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A disgraced journalist, relegated to writing obituaries in his newspaper's dusty archive, stumbles upon a deadly conspiracy where a ruthless developer is systematically eliminating low-income residents to clear the way for a multi-billion-pound regeneration project.
## Themes
* **The Invisibility of the Marginalized:** The story highlights how society overlooks the deaths of the poor and powerless, treating their lives as mere footnotes easily erased in the name of progress.
* **Truth in the Archives:** True journalism and inconvenient truths are not always found in the headlines, but buried in the forgotten details, the old files, and the quiet spaces no one else bothers to look.
* **Redemption Through Obsession:** A washed-up professional finds a chance to reclaim his purpose and integrity by pursuing a dangerous story that everyone else has missed.
* **Progress as Predation:** The film explores the dark side of urban renewal, where corporate ambition masquerades as civic improvement, preying on the vulnerable for profit.
## Stakes
Kenny must expose a murderous corporate conspiracy before he becomes the next victim, risking his life to give a voice to the city's forgotten dead.
## Synopsis
Kenny, a disgraced journalist, now works in the newspaper's archive—the "morgue"—writing short obituaries. He is haunted by three recent deaths he's covered: a homeless man, a squatter, and an elderly woman. The official causes are accidental, but Kenny suspects a connection. He discovers all three victims lived within a five-block radius in the blighted canal district, a forgotten part of the city.
His investigation is spurred on by a cryptic text from "Nana," a shadowy intelligence source from his past. The message points him to a press release from the powerful Ishikawa Corp, announcing "Project Phoenix," a massive regeneration of the exact same five blocks. The project's head is the charismatic CEO, Shiro Ishikawa. Kenny realizes the deaths aren't accidents; they are a "sanitization" of the area, eliminating residents who were holding out against developers.
Using his old press pass, Kenny obtains the police reports, which are suspiciously clean and conclusive. He visits the canal district and finds physical evidence of foul play at the scene of the elderly woman's "fall"—fresh scrapes on the window frame that police missed. His snooping attracts the attention of a corporate security enforcer, who intimidates him off the "private property."
Driven, Kenny digs deeper into the archives, discovering that all three victims were the last holdouts on their properties, refusing to sell to Ishikawa Corp. A second cryptic message from Nana leads him to a sealed juvenile court case against a young Shiro Ishikawa for assaulting a property owner who refused to sell to his father.
As Kenny pieces together this final, damning piece of evidence, the phone on his desk rings. The receptionist informs him that a Mr. Ishikawa is in the lobby to see him. The hunter has become the hunted, and Kenny is trapped in his subterranean archive with a story that could either save his career or end his life.
## Character Breakdown
* **KENNY (40s-50s):** A washed-up, analog journalist in a digital world. Once a respected foreign correspondent, a "flameout in Kabul" has left him cynical, tired, and relegated to the newspaper's basement. He is intelligent and observant, with a deep-seated respect for facts and the stories of the dead.
* **Psychological Arc:** Kenny begins in a state of professional purgatory and self-imposed exile, haunted by past failures and finding morbid comfort in the quiet finality of the archive. The investigation reawakens his dormant journalistic instincts and moral core, transforming him from a passive chronicler of death into an active agent of justice, ultimately rediscovering his purpose and courage.
* **SHIRO ISHIKAWA (40s):** The charismatic, impeccably dressed, and utterly ruthless CEO of Ishikawa Corp. He is the public face of progress and urban renewal, but privately operates with the cold precision of a predator. He views people as obstacles or assets, and has no moral qualms about "removing" the former.
* **NANA (Voice/Text only):** An unseen, enigmatic figure from Kenny's past in the intelligence community. She communicates only through cryptic proverbs and folklore, providing just enough information to point Kenny in the right direction without ever revealing her own motives or identity. She is a ghost in the machine, a mentor from the shadows.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE MORGUE:** We meet Kenny in his subterranean kingdom, the newspaper archive. Surrounded by yellowing paper, he ignores his assigned obituary to study three others, sensing a pattern.
2. **THE CONNECTION:** He pins the victims' addresses to a map, revealing their proximity in the forgotten canal district.
3. **THE CRYPTIC CLUE:** A text from his old source, Nana, arrives: "The fox hunts fastest when the hounds are sleeping." It's attached to a press release for Ishikawa Corp's "Project Phoenix" in the same district. The conspiracy clicks into place for Kenny.
4. **THE PERFECT REPORTS:** In his beat-up car, Kenny reads the official police reports. They are too neat, too clean, raising his suspicions.
5. **THE SCENE OF THE CRIME:** Kenny investigates the tenement where the old woman fell. He finds fresh scrapes on the window lock—evidence of a break-in.
6. **THE WARNING:** A man in a sharp suit—corporate security—confronts Kenny, warning him off the "private property." The threat is now tangible.
7. **THE HOLDOUTS:** Back in the morgue, Kenny digs through property deeds and discovers the three victims were the last residents on their properties who had refused to sell to Ishikawa.
8. **THE SNAKE'S PAST:** Another text from Nana leads Kenny to a sealed juvenile file. After calling in a favor, he uncovers Shiro Ishikawa's violent past: an assault charge for intimidating a property owner.
9. **THE FOX AT THE DOOR:** With the final piece of the puzzle in his hands, the phone rings. The receptionist announces Mr. Ishikawa is in the lobby to see him. Kenny looks around the silent archive, trapped.
## Visual Style & Tone
The film will adopt a grounded, neo-noir thriller aesthetic, emphasizing shadows and claustrophobia.
* **Visuals:** The morgue will be shot with warm, dusty, low-key lighting (chiaroscuro), dominated by the single bare bulb over Kenny's desk. This contrasts with the cold, bleak, desaturated look of the canal district. Ishikawa Corp and its representatives will be associated with sharp, clean lines, modern architecture, and an intrusive, sterile blue colour palette. Cinematography will utilize tight close-ups on details: yellowed clippings, file numbers, scraped metal, and Kenny's weary eyes.
* **Tone:** The tone is tense, paranoid, and methodical. It aligns with the journalistic obsession of *Zodiac* and the political paranoia of *All the President's Men*, but infused with the modern corporate menace found in episodes of *Black Mirror* and the moral ambiguity of *Nightcrawler*. The score will be minimalist and atmospheric, using low hums and subtle electronic pulses to build suspense.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A disgraced journalist, relegated to writing obituaries in his newspaper's dusty archive, stumbles upon a deadly conspiracy where a ruthless developer is systematically eliminating low-income residents to clear the way for a multi-billion-pound regeneration project.
## Themes
* **The Invisibility of the Marginalized:** The story highlights how society overlooks the deaths of the poor and powerless, treating their lives as mere footnotes easily erased in the name of progress.
* **Truth in the Archives:** True journalism and inconvenient truths are not always found in the headlines, but buried in the forgotten details, the old files, and the quiet spaces no one else bothers to look.
* **Redemption Through Obsession:** A washed-up professional finds a chance to reclaim his purpose and integrity by pursuing a dangerous story that everyone else has missed.
* **Progress as Predation:** The film explores the dark side of urban renewal, where corporate ambition masquerades as civic improvement, preying on the vulnerable for profit.
## Stakes
Kenny must expose a murderous corporate conspiracy before he becomes the next victim, risking his life to give a voice to the city's forgotten dead.
## Synopsis
Kenny, a disgraced journalist, now works in the newspaper's archive—the "morgue"—writing short obituaries. He is haunted by three recent deaths he's covered: a homeless man, a squatter, and an elderly woman. The official causes are accidental, but Kenny suspects a connection. He discovers all three victims lived within a five-block radius in the blighted canal district, a forgotten part of the city.
His investigation is spurred on by a cryptic text from "Nana," a shadowy intelligence source from his past. The message points him to a press release from the powerful Ishikawa Corp, announcing "Project Phoenix," a massive regeneration of the exact same five blocks. The project's head is the charismatic CEO, Shiro Ishikawa. Kenny realizes the deaths aren't accidents; they are a "sanitization" of the area, eliminating residents who were holding out against developers.
Using his old press pass, Kenny obtains the police reports, which are suspiciously clean and conclusive. He visits the canal district and finds physical evidence of foul play at the scene of the elderly woman's "fall"—fresh scrapes on the window frame that police missed. His snooping attracts the attention of a corporate security enforcer, who intimidates him off the "private property."
Driven, Kenny digs deeper into the archives, discovering that all three victims were the last holdouts on their properties, refusing to sell to Ishikawa Corp. A second cryptic message from Nana leads him to a sealed juvenile court case against a young Shiro Ishikawa for assaulting a property owner who refused to sell to his father.
As Kenny pieces together this final, damning piece of evidence, the phone on his desk rings. The receptionist informs him that a Mr. Ishikawa is in the lobby to see him. The hunter has become the hunted, and Kenny is trapped in his subterranean archive with a story that could either save his career or end his life.
## Character Breakdown
* **KENNY (40s-50s):** A washed-up, analog journalist in a digital world. Once a respected foreign correspondent, a "flameout in Kabul" has left him cynical, tired, and relegated to the newspaper's basement. He is intelligent and observant, with a deep-seated respect for facts and the stories of the dead.
* **Psychological Arc:** Kenny begins in a state of professional purgatory and self-imposed exile, haunted by past failures and finding morbid comfort in the quiet finality of the archive. The investigation reawakens his dormant journalistic instincts and moral core, transforming him from a passive chronicler of death into an active agent of justice, ultimately rediscovering his purpose and courage.
* **SHIRO ISHIKAWA (40s):** The charismatic, impeccably dressed, and utterly ruthless CEO of Ishikawa Corp. He is the public face of progress and urban renewal, but privately operates with the cold precision of a predator. He views people as obstacles or assets, and has no moral qualms about "removing" the former.
* **NANA (Voice/Text only):** An unseen, enigmatic figure from Kenny's past in the intelligence community. She communicates only through cryptic proverbs and folklore, providing just enough information to point Kenny in the right direction without ever revealing her own motives or identity. She is a ghost in the machine, a mentor from the shadows.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE MORGUE:** We meet Kenny in his subterranean kingdom, the newspaper archive. Surrounded by yellowing paper, he ignores his assigned obituary to study three others, sensing a pattern.
2. **THE CONNECTION:** He pins the victims' addresses to a map, revealing their proximity in the forgotten canal district.
3. **THE CRYPTIC CLUE:** A text from his old source, Nana, arrives: "The fox hunts fastest when the hounds are sleeping." It's attached to a press release for Ishikawa Corp's "Project Phoenix" in the same district. The conspiracy clicks into place for Kenny.
4. **THE PERFECT REPORTS:** In his beat-up car, Kenny reads the official police reports. They are too neat, too clean, raising his suspicions.
5. **THE SCENE OF THE CRIME:** Kenny investigates the tenement where the old woman fell. He finds fresh scrapes on the window lock—evidence of a break-in.
6. **THE WARNING:** A man in a sharp suit—corporate security—confronts Kenny, warning him off the "private property." The threat is now tangible.
7. **THE HOLDOUTS:** Back in the morgue, Kenny digs through property deeds and discovers the three victims were the last residents on their properties who had refused to sell to Ishikawa.
8. **THE SNAKE'S PAST:** Another text from Nana leads Kenny to a sealed juvenile file. After calling in a favor, he uncovers Shiro Ishikawa's violent past: an assault charge for intimidating a property owner.
9. **THE FOX AT THE DOOR:** With the final piece of the puzzle in his hands, the phone rings. The receptionist announces Mr. Ishikawa is in the lobby to see him. Kenny looks around the silent archive, trapped.
## Visual Style & Tone
The film will adopt a grounded, neo-noir thriller aesthetic, emphasizing shadows and claustrophobia.
* **Visuals:** The morgue will be shot with warm, dusty, low-key lighting (chiaroscuro), dominated by the single bare bulb over Kenny's desk. This contrasts with the cold, bleak, desaturated look of the canal district. Ishikawa Corp and its representatives will be associated with sharp, clean lines, modern architecture, and an intrusive, sterile blue colour palette. Cinematography will utilize tight close-ups on details: yellowed clippings, file numbers, scraped metal, and Kenny's weary eyes.
* **Tone:** The tone is tense, paranoid, and methodical. It aligns with the journalistic obsession of *Zodiac* and the political paranoia of *All the President's Men*, but infused with the modern corporate menace found in episodes of *Black Mirror* and the moral ambiguity of *Nightcrawler*. The score will be minimalist and atmospheric, using low hums and subtle electronic pulses to build suspense.